Dead Space 2: Dang space, you scary!
In the next installment of the Dead Space universe we find Isaac on "The Sprawl", a gigantic space station resting on one of Saturn's moons. From the minute Clarke wakes up he's thrown into the horror he thought he left behind on Aegis 7. It's a scary, and hopeless situation that creates a huge amount of tension. Not only are the monsters frightening, but the situation as well.
Lets start with the Graphics. Dead Space 2 is gorgeous. From the futuristic lights covering the halls to the details on his suit, this is an impressive game. It runs smooth, throughout. Smooth surfaces, and horrifying monsters look realistic, and that adds to the horror in many ways. Facial models are awesome. At some points in the game I actually had to pause to marvel at how much expression some of the characters showed. Spoiler: They look scared most of the time. Necromorphs look disgusting, and slimy. They actually look creepier when they crawl at you with no legs. In the first game there were about two models for each necromorph, one black and one normal. There are a larger variety of necromorphs in this sequel. Male, female, nurse, police, and engineer necromorphs stalk the halls. The addition of these different necromorphs makes the horror hit closer to home. You can clearly see that these abominations were once people. One a side note: The opening scene in the game is both scary, and amazing. I wont give it away, but I've never seen a transformation like that. You need to see it first hand.
The first Dead Space was well known for it's fantastic sound design, and it is not different in Dead Space 2. It sounds great. Space vacuums are muffled beautifully, screeches are piercing, and gunshots are unrelentingly loud. Its sounds like deep space is supposed to. Many of the scares come from sounds alone. If you have a surround sound system, now's the time to use it. There's nothing like the sound of dismembering hellish corpses while flying through space using your nifty rocket boots. Voiceovers are solid, and sound appropriate in a horror setting.
Many people threw up in their mouths when Visceral announced that Isaac would be taking a more central, speaking, role in Dead Space 2. I was one of them. Fortunately, Isaac is a great guy when you get to know him. He is a flawed and frightened character, and knows it. He reluctantly takes it upon himself to stop the necromorph outbreak. In Dead Space 2, Isaac is filled with guilt, and frustration. He isn't sure of himself, but he knows that there isn't any other choice but to go on. Suffering from terrifying hallucinations, and constantly being attack by one thing or another, he pushes forward. The rest of the cast is great, but don't hold your attention like Isaac does.
Game-play is solid, improving on how the first game played. Shots are precise, and satisfying. Stasis, and kinesis have seen marked improvements. Throwing objects is an option in combat now, and stasis shots actually land in Dead Space 2. The locator not only leads you to your objective, but to save spots, stores, and benches. It's color coded, and really cool the first time you see it. Floating in 360 degree zero gravity is monumental, and frequent. I could fly around for hours. Take that Dark Void!
Dead Space 2 is a very linear game. Instead of giving you a stage to explore like in the first game, you go on a number of point A to point B missions. It may throw you off at first and make you feel confined, but you'll soon get used to it. After your initial play-through you'll run through the game pretty quickly, and there wont be much more to explore unless you're upgrading your RIG and weapons. Again, there is no HUD, and all necessary information is given to you in real time. This means that you can get mauled at any time, even when you're shopping.
The single player campaign, overall, is solid. The only hiccup in the game is near the end. The game starts to ease up on the scares, and sends hordes of enemies at you. This can feel cheap, and be extremely frustrating. This is a hard game. I played on survivalist my first play through, and I died a countless amount of times. It can send you into a game over rage at times, but it's not so bad to take away from the games value. In some ways it feels appropriate.
Dead Space 2 is an improvement on one of my favorite horror survival games. The attention to detail, and the obvious devotion put into this game make it into something special and memorable. It's scary, action packed, and atmospheric. Some difficulty issues rear there ugly heads, but it's not enough to cripple the experience. It's pretty much a terrific game for horror, and third person shooter fans alike. I highly enjoyed this game and hope you do too.